87' subaru DL, all stock, Sluggish prob

[SubieSteve]

Hi all, I'm new here and finally got approved for posting! so here goes with one of my biggest headaches. My 87' DL purrs like a kitten. Starts right up every morning. I've had very few problems with it in the 3yrs I've owned it. I replaced the drivers CV joint, and besides regular maintenance I havien't had to do anything to it. The only complaint I have, and I'm not trying to win any races its a total cruiser, is that when accelerating, Pushing on the pedal causes the engine to bog down. Kind of throws me FORWARD in my seat. Playing with the pedal a little to find the right spot get its to go again but its really frustrating. A friend and I were poking around and we were looking at the EGR valve and the PCV valve but I have no clue as to how to check them. Ive tried looking through on here but there is alot of info on here so I thought posting would be a good idea. Also, after driving and stopping, the idle will be high, but if i tap the pedal it kicks back down. Saying I am an amatuer mechanic would be boastful. I am an extreme novice at best. Any help would be greatly appreiciated. Also soon I will upload pictures of my baby, little Red I call her. Thanks again in advance.

[The Dude Abides]

I can tell you that if you have an 87 you have the carb version of that motor. The carb for that car isnt the friendliest thing in the world. Do some searches on here on how to tune up your hitachi. There kind of difficult to get into tune though. Do you have an auto or manual.

[djellum]

id try putting a posting in the 80's subaru section a couple of links above this one on the main page. just more traffic there it seems. also state whether its fuel injected or a carb. im assuming its a carb since you posted here, but just in case.

 

couple of things to check.

 

1) spray some carb cleaner around the vacuum hoses on the motor. if the motor rpm increases then you have a vacuum leak. there are likely a few of them if you still have the stock plate of spaghetti on the motor. button up any vacuum leaks by replacing hoses but if its a carb dont pull the trigger on expensive valves and baffles that you might not need. research here before you spend too much.

 

2) timing can do that if its out of whack. if your that new you probably dont have a timing light, but you can rent one or borrow one, or just have someone check it. if you have a vacuum hose running to the distributor, make sure it is plugged into a carb port and not the manifold. it needs ported vaccum (vacuum that increases with rpm) and many other motors use unported vacuum. debate rages, but this motor and dist was ran ported so i would just put it back that way if you find it different. Also most people I see posting here (and myself as well) have found that 20 deg initial timing is better than the 8 deg it says in the manual. I set it like the sticker on my car said and it ran crappy. increased the timing and it ran much better. not fully through testing it yet though.

 

3) sticking throttle sounds like its just a linkage deal. spray it down with some carb cleaner and/or visually find out where its binding. worn throttle shafts can bind (its what mine is doing currently) so I moved the spring to add a bit more pull. it works as a get by kind of fix.

 

the pcv and egr could be the culprits if they leak. if so the carb cleaner trick could find it. while you at it you can pull the pcv valve out and clean it with some gas. if it rattles around its probably fine. try pulling the vacuum hose off of the egr valve (the small hose), suck on it and plug it with your tongue. if it holds the egr is likely fine, if it bleeds out its bad. if it is working ok, leaving this hose off and plugging it should deactivate the egr to take it out of the mix. it can still be leaking exhaust into the manifold though. No great way to test that other than removal and see if it is different.